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Thursday, June 14, 2018

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New York City Council Member Adrienne Adams and Sickle Cell Awareness Foundation Corporation International are pleased to present a health fair that will focus on more than just sickle cell disease.In addition to sickle cell and blood testing, there’ll be free screenings for for lupus, blood pressure, hearing, sleep disorders, HIV/AIDS and more. For more information, call (718) 657-3173 or (917) 373-8434.

Tuesday, June 12, 2018

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An Interview With Author Jody-Ann Buckle by Kamau Austin

In Queens A Literary Queen Is Rising

Jody-Ann N. Buckle, And Her Book Of Poetry "Reflections Of A Queen Rising"

Jody-Ann Buckle is an emerging author in Southeast Queens, who looks to inspire and empower women with her 1st book of poetry "Reflections of A Queen Rising." I asked the rising queen of publishing about what drove her to create such a compelling work.Kamau: Jody-Ann can you tell me a little about your background and where you grew up? Jody-Ann - I was born in St. Ann, Jamaica, and lived for a period of time with my maternal grandmother and aunt. I migrated to New York at the age of eight with my mother and we settled in Laurelton, Queens with family.

At the age of eleven, my father was killed in Jamaica. After experiencing the loss of my father I looked for ways to fill the void of his untimely death through writing short stories and poetry. I was fairly active growing up and spent most of my time hanging around with my cousins.

I participated in ballet and tap classes, entered a jazz competition, joined the step team and cheerleading team in high school. I was never clinically diagnosed with depression, but in my late twenties I have been sad more often than I was happy.

Part of what drove that sadness was because I wasn’t experiencing life and I didn’t believe in myself. I desired to get married and thought it would give me happiness, I suppressed my talents as a writer, and despite several achievements, I felt unsuccessful.Kamau: That sounds very painful and challenging. How were you able to shift gears and make your life more fulfilling after your father's death?

Jody-Ann - Needless to say for the next few years I wrestled with my thoughts. I began to shift my thoughts and replaced, negativity with positivity, I began to embrace who I was as a person, I showed myself love, and in return I was able to pour that into my writing.

In addition, I practiced gratitude, read more books, and completed a series of personal development workshops, which challenged my mindset to think differently. I realized that life was so much more than comparing myself to others, getting married, and diminishing what I could potentially offer the world.

Kamau: What made you make the jump to go from reading inspiring authors to becoming one yourself?

Jody-Ann - As the years progressed, I continued to write but never thought about publishing a book until I was in my early thirties. In the summer of 2016, while sitting on my sofa and realized that fear was sinking me, so I made the decision to share my writing.

Despite the thoughts that lingered, “who would read it?” and questioning whether I was a good writer, I persisted and shared my first blog post on September 21, 2016. I didn’t know how it would look and I didn’t care if I was going to be successful, I just wanted to share my story.

I was humbled by the feedback because much of what I experienced, other women were able to relate. A year later I self-published my first poetry book, Reflections of a Queen Rising, which is available on Amazon. Reflections of a Queen Rising mirrors a woman who is no longer afraid to write, it mirrors a woman who has transformed her thinking, and it mirrors a woman who is always seeking ways to discover her highest potential.Kamau: Ms. Buckle can you hit us with a little sample of your poetry?Jody-Ann - Sure Kamau this is entitled Arrival Time...

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Organization Celebrates Fathers While Also Helping Some Women Deal With Fatherlessness

Nationwide -- The Fatherless Daughters Network is celebrating dads everywhere, especially since Father's Day is during the month of June. On this occasion every year, children look for the perfect card and gift to give to that special man they call "father."But there is another group of children who do not celebrate this day. Not because they don't want to, but because they have not had a reason to. These are the millions of fatherless daughter women who are without their fathers.Everyone has a biological father, but when the term "fatherless" is used, it means that the father figure is just not present in the daughter's life.He could be unavailable, unattached or absent due to separation, divorce, abandonment or even death. Perhaps he lacked the skills needed to bond with his daughter.Or just maybe he was not allowed to be there for his daughter by her mom or some other person. In some instances, the dad was physically present but was not emotionally attentive and caring towards his daughter.

Washington, DC - Today, U.S. Representative Gregory W. Meeks introduced and passed an amendment to the Water Resources Development Act that aims to expedite the Army Corps of Engineers super-storm Sandy recovery study. Though funding has already been appropriated for coastal protections, construction awaits the finalization of the already completed report. Expediting the process should allow construction to move ahead of schedule. Rep. Meeks issued the following statement following the amendment’s passage:

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Furthering
their commitment to the Queens art community, Queens Council On The
Arts will offer 8 Queens based artists the opportunity to create
temporary public artworks throughout Jamaica and Jackson Heights.

New York State Senator James Sanders Jr. (D-Queens), in the beginning of June, hosted an informational session on access to capital and bonding to prepare Minority and Women-Owned Business Enterprises for the more than $10 billion dollars in development slated for John F. Kennedy Airport.

The Senator brought together dozens of people of various MWBEs including those in construction, energy, and professional services for a breakfast meeting at Port Authority JFK headquarters. The Senator assembled an expert panel to discuss procurement (the action of obtaining contracts), and bonding (having a business license, proper insurance and making payments to a surety company for protection by a bond) in his mission to increase MWBE capacity certification and utilization.

“Our goal is to prepare existing MWBEs with the information needed to scale and secure contracts specifically with the JFK redevelopment,” said Senator Sanders. “This is an opportunity of a lifetime, and one must take advantage of an opportunity within its lifetime.”

When asked, which businesses held various certifications, all but two were without certifications, which demonstrated companies in the room were in a position to do business, experienced with government contracts and highly motivated to work with the airport.

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Featuring
three emerging virtuosos in Carnatic music; Roopa Mahadevan on vocal,
Anjna Swaminathan on violin, and Abhinav Seetharaman on mridangam, this
concert promises to bring you the authentic Carnatic music experience.

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Assembly Member Clyde Vanel wants everybody who wants a job to have one. That’s why he’s hosting a job fair!

Join him — with your updated resume in hand — and get ready to do some on the spot interviewing. For additional information, contact Aaron Ambrose in Assembly Member Vanel’s office at (718) 479-2333 or ambrosea@nyassembly.gov

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Stimulate And Expand Your Mind At The Book Boutique

Sherese Francis is hosting another Book Boutique. Join Sherese as she showcase her mobile library — J. Expressions.Community members can sit and read books, donate books, as well as submit a short written piece to the Jam Journal Jar. For additional information, contact Sherese Francis at sheresefrancis@gmail.com

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Bring Dad for a book talk with food writer, culinary tour guide, and
champion of Queens, Joe DiStefano, author of 111 Places in Queens That
You Must Not Miss, and learn about the lesser known snapshots of history
and culture in Queens.

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Oprah Matches $1 Million Dollar Goal For U.S. Dream Academy

Oprah Winfrey And Mpumi Nobiva, An Activist Addressing Domestic Violence and AID Affected Children In Africa

Washington, DC -- The U.S. Dream Academy hosted an exciting 17th Annual
"Power of A Dream" Gala themed "Living the Dream" on May 8th at the
Washington, D.C. Marriott Marquis presented by Amway in honor of the
organizations 20th Anniversary.

The gala fundraising goal of $1 million for the 450 attending guests was exceeded when global media leader Oprah Winfrey had Mpumi Nobiva, an alumna from the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy who was being honored at the event with the DreamBlazer Award, make a surprise announcement that Winfrey would match all donations made during the gala celebration."Oprah Winfrey is a long-time supporter of U.S. Dream Academy, but this donation was an incredible surprise! This generous donation from Oprah and our other critical supporters, such as Amway, make our programs to serve children all over the country through our after school tutoring, mentoring and our dream building possible," said Wintley Phipps, Founder & CEO, U.S. Dream Academy."It was a perfect moment, having one of Oprah’s mentee’s from her Leadership Academy, make the an-nouncement. Nobiva's accomplishments demonstrate the power of mentoring combined with hard work and perseverance to make 'Dreams' come true. We were thrilled to honor Mpumi as our DreamBlazer Awardee and then to have her surprise us with this announcement, was a great way to end the evening," said C. Diane Wallace Booker, founding Executive Director for U.S. Dream Academy.

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The Southeast Queens Scoop Gets Over 121,000 Views In The Last 30-Days And Over 437,000 Within A Year

By Kamau Austin

What a difference a year makes! The Southeast Queens Scoop is a news blog I started years ago just to give my clients some additional local promotion and PR. This is because Google and Social Media advertising was so expensive when you really evaluate the costs.

Many local advertisers just don't have the ad budgets to compete with major corporations. So the Scoop was my way of providing extra value in promotion to my local web marketing business clients.

About a year ago I noticed, due to my increased marketing, there seemed to be a strong interest in the local business profiles and cultural events that I was posting. I could tell by viewing my site statistics (something all business people should be doing on an ongoing basis). It also occured to me the news coverage of Southeast Queens, was usually negative and focused on crime and corruption.

I wondered how much interest and popularity I could get if I went hard on my search engine and social media promotion of the site and focused on positive developments. At the time the site barely had 9,000 visits. Well I was pleasantly surprised. Hell to be honest I am elated and astonished!

The Southeast Queens Scoop in the last 30 days alone has gotten over 121,000 site visits. Averages about 42,000 site visits a month now, and has had over 437,000 site visits in about a years time of really promoting it. More importantly it has helped grow businesses in Southeast Queens tremendously especially over the last year.

I could have never accomplished such a major success in building the following of the Southeast Queens Scoop alone. It has taken a team of very intelligent and creative people to grow the Scoop to its level of viewership. To be a success at anything you need a team. And having a team with more expertise than you have -- can really make the difference!I want to thank Ms. Terryl Ebony, for being the 1st person to give me encouragement and tell me I could use her content to enhance the Southeast Queens Scoop. She also gave input on the look of the digital publication and insights on community development.I want to thank Brotha Dujon Ricks, a brilliant man working on his PhD in Electrical Engineering, for being the 1st real volunteer to work on the Scoop on a regular basis taking time from his busy schedule to help in anyway he could -- whether it be sales or writing articles.I am also thankful to Ms. Nerine Dixon, who has a Masters Degree in Music, and is the former Choir Director of CCC, in Brooklyn, who helped me put on a successful community event with class and creativity. She has also been there to give me creative advice on the direction of the news blog.A prolific political and social media commentator Bro. Earl Hazell, has been invaluable with sharing really profound cultural critiques and evaluation of popular figures. Earl is one of the best cultural and entertainment writers I know. One of Hazell's articles garnered about 75,000 views in 2-days.

Author Jody-Ann Buckle, gave great advice on creating a new section for Events, which has become one of our most popular. She is also writing some very important articles about businesses in our community.I want to thank my amazing daughter Ms. Nzinga L. Austin. She is a tireless contributor despite being on the autism spectrum. She is the a great asset and backbone of our efforts. She believes in me and this project and is constantly doing sourcing, research, and picking great content and formatting it for the Southeast Queens Scoop. Her efforts are inspiring!Moreover, I also want to thank you, our viewers, who took time to see and checkout our content. Many have done so on an ongoing basis. Without our viewers the Scoop would not have been possible or even thinkable.And last but not least I want to thank our advertisers and sponsors who thought it not robbery to buy ads and promotion. Thank you for giving us your confidence and business. I thank God that I have met these great people and partners in this business sojourn.Like many startup businesses the Southeast Queens Scoop, has many challenges ahead. Please continue to pray and meditate that we can keep moving ahead to accomplish our mission of promoting positive news, cultural events, business profiles, and economic development in Southeast Queens. I believe and have faith the best is yet to come.

“With over 150 ethnicities and more languages spoken than anywhere else in the world, Queens is not just the immigrant capital of New York City, it is the world’s borough. Diversity is part of the very fabric of our city, woven by generation after generation of immigrants.Their immeasurable contributions to our culture and our economy have allowed New York and our nation to thrive. Evidence of that is Comptroller DiNapoli’s recent report, which found that immigrant communities and their entrepreneurial spirit have largely contributed to the economic success of Queens.

“On this Immigrant Heritage Month, we must not only reflect on the value of immigrants, but our values as a nation of immigrants. Despite the hateful rhetoric and repugnant policies of the current White House, New York continues to uphold the ideals commemorated on the Statue of Liberty’s plaque, celebrating and protecting all our immigrants from the emboldened hate and bigotry we see today.

“To everyone who sacrificed something to join in our great melting pot, New York stands by you, and is better for it, in every way.”

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Nationwide -- Essence weekend has an impact on the City of New Orleans
but on July 5th, Master P's 2nd annual star-studded celebrity basketball
game will bring the community together for entertainment, peace and
giving back.

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New
Orleans, LA -- New Orleans' Chef Nina Compton of Compère
Lapin restaurant made history by becoming the first Black woman to be
designated as the best chef in the South at the 2018 James Beard Awards.